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Sunday, November 3, 2013

X-Wing: List Building Analysis

Welcome to flight school.

Over the last couple of days, I've been doing some serious in-depth thinking of X-Wing list building. Having played a ton of games with both Imperials and Rebels by now, I have a pretty good understanding of things work. I've spent the better part of my research time focused on the competitive metagame and the types of lists being fielded by players all over.

Let me take you through some of the important facets when building an X-Wing list and how you can maximize your chances on the battlefield. I will say one thing though: No matter how much you min-max your list for damage and survivability, player skill, experience, and dice will always be stronger. This is the one thing I really enjoy about X-Wing and why I think it's a solid game.

First, let's take a look at an Rebel list that I've been toying around lately:

The first thing when I look at when I have this in front of me is the offensive and defensive stats. If I'm looking at raw firepower, I'm looking at a list that can throw out 12 dice at ranges 2/3 and 16 at range 1. Then I consider the abilities that these pilots offer, such as the ability to Focus and Target Lock onto enemy ships. It goes without saying that when you look at firepower, you have to pay close attention to what Pilot Skill a ship has. A higher pilot skill means they you'll be shooting first, and that's very important when it comes to deciding what kind of list you're building. It might be a meta specific thing, but if you're looking to shoot before a swarm of Obsidian Pilot Ties (PS3), then PS4 Red Squadron Pilots would be something to look at. If your meta is packing Academy Pilot Ties (PS1) without any means to buff them via Swarm Tactics, then you might want to consider a pair of Rookies or Blue Squadron instead and take R2 Astromechs for better maneuverability. This is where the beauty of list building kicks in and things really start to get interesting. I love it.

Aside from analyzing a list's firepower, one must pay close attention to what kind of ships he's fielding. You have to realize as a player that with each ship lost, your firepower also decreases. This can be huge when constructing an army worth something because you need a reliable way to do damage as the game goes on. Putting all of your points into Super-Han might look like an awesome idea, but what if he goes down and you have nothing left that can do damage? Every time you get one of your ships killed, you lose firepower on the battlefield. For every bit of firepower that drops, so does your chances of winning. After all, your ability to damage enemy ships on the battlefield is what's eventually going to win you the game.

When choosing your ships, you also have to look at their defensive stats. In a list with 2x X-Wings and 2x B-Wings, you're looking at 26 total hull points from Hull and Shields combined. This is absolutely huge compared to some of things you can take at 100 points. Shields are gigantic in a game where the luck factor can see a crit rendering your engines, pilot or abilities inert. With each B-Wing packing 5 shields before the 3 Hull, and X-Wings giving you 2 before the same, you feel good about the amount of durability on your side of the field. Another thing to consider here is your ship dials and what kind of maneuvers your ships can pull off. After all, you need to be able to fire on your enemy to do damage, so setting up the right angles is very important for fielding a list like this. Sure, you have a godly number of total hull points, but you can't defend very well because of your relatively low agility and lack of evade tokens. That's OK, we got a few tricks here with Advanced Sensors so we can pull off some wacky plays and maintain fire superiority.

On first glance, you'll notice that I have less overall firepower than my Rebel list in terms of sheer dice. You're looking at 11 dice at 2/3 and 15 at range 1. However, you have to factor into a few other things like PS and Howlrunner's ability to let me re-roll 1 attack dice per attack. With both Fel and Howl shooting things before they have a chance to shoot back, and I'm getting re-rolls in combination with Focus, the damage potential for this list is pretty respectable.

Where the damage potential might be higher depending on the situation, the defensive side is very different. When you compare this list with the 26 HP rebel list above, you can see a huge disparity of raw bulkiness. The Imperial list featured here only has 12 total hull points, less than half of what the Rebel list can field and with the presence of NO shields at all. No shields means you're susceptible to getting hit by crits that can do a number of bad things to your ships. This includes but is not limited to receiving a Direct Hit! and dying instantly after you've already suffered a hit.

Don't panic though, Imperial pilots makes up for this in a number of ways. The first is better movement dials to deal with faster speed, sharper turns, deeper K-Turns, and numerous green maneuvers to clear stress. Second comes in the way of Barrel Roll, Boost, and Evade tokens. As if this isn't enough, Push the Limit allows the Interceptors to enter combat with both offensive and defensive typing (Focus and Evade), as well as allowing the player to Boost and Barrel Roll back to back. Setting up smart firing lanes is one thing, but not getting hit entirely while still being able to train enemy ships is something else. With a natural 3 agility dice to throw when defending and being able to move like a UFO, this list represents the pinnacle in avoidance shooting. Due to the complexity of movement and need to move as a squadron, rookie pilots tend to shy away from these kind of lists. Quite fitting if you know anything about the elite 181st Imperial Fighter Wing.

Well, there you have it. List building is very fun and intuitive in this game since every option feels viable to some degree. All you have to know is find out what kind of ships molds your to particular playstyle and build a list around it. It won't be easy with so many options, but hopefully this article will broaden your horizons.